House Rules
Room Rules # All rules listed on the IMC terms of service should be followed. # Any pictures serving as avatars and character pictures in the chat are limited to 400 x 400. # The room rating is M for Mature, this means that the room is for mature (18+ years old only) players and content in the room may be equal to what is seen in R rated movies. Anything explicitly sexual should be taken elsewhere. # Be civil. This isn't complicated; if you disrespect other players, you'll be given a warning, and with continued misbehavior may be banned from the room. If you have an issue with another player or staff member, bring it up with the room's Host rather than escalating. This obviously applies only OOC; your characters can be jerks to each other all they want. # Characters must be submitted to imcneolithic (at gmail) to be played and to gain XP (See below). A character that lacks any restricted items (see character creation) can be play-tested for up to 2 weeks before being submitted, so long as no big changes are caused to or by them in that time (no making magical equipment, or trying to blow up a locus), but must be submitted at the end of that period. Non-restricted characters may continue to be play-tested in between submission and approval. # Players are limited to 2 characters of each full supernatural type, but may have as many mortal or minor template characters as they wish. # The Neolithic era is a lethal one, but we want character death and similar changes to be in the hands of the players, even if the characters themselves have no say. Because of this, players need the permission of either the other character's player or an ST before killing, permanently altering (such as embracing a mortal), or otherwise "ruining" another person's character. Storytellers always have the right to kill off characters, but will generally only do so in specific situations (a character thoroughly deserving it or brutally tempting fate, for instance). This does not apply to heavily maiming, temporarily deranging, or otherwise causing less permanent harm to a character, though; this IS the Chronicles of Darkness, after all. # There's no model claim, though models will be listed in the approved character list here. However, you're free to use a model even if they're in use already; it's assumed that IC there's enough of a difference between them that people can tell the difference, unless it's a plot point otherwise (such as being actual twins). Experience Awards and Expenditure # Approved characters will receive 3 beats per week, on the same weekday they were approved (but not the first day they're approved). This replaces the normal chapter and story awards for beats. # Up to 7 more beats (2xp total) can be earned per character per week through the normal means of gaining beats; resolving conditions, fulfilling aspirations, receiving critical damage, and downgrading failures, for instance. Posting a log is also worth 1 beat for the character(s) involved. In all cases, keep track of the scenes where these beats are earned, and be honest; we don't want to have to start auditing beats. # Aspirations and Obsessions are replaced when earning your weekly beats. # If there's any uncertainty as to if something is worth a beat, ask a Storyteller. # Experience costs are as per the books, and as listed on the respective Character Creation pages. # For most things, no ST permission is need to make a purchase, you simply subtract the Experience, raise the trait, and record it on your sheet somewhere. With certain things, you need ST permission (generally via email, but you can also simply directly ask an ST in room). These include anything but skills at 5 dots or above, any new 'out of affinity' powers (Out of clan disciplines, Inferior Arcanum, etc), new merits, raising anything but skills to levels restricted or banned at creation, anything custom made, and for Mages, their first 4 dot Arcana. # If a player has not been in a scene with any character in the past 3 months, and has not submitted notice of a leave of absence, they retroactively lose that 3 months' Experience and gain no further beats until they've returned. General House Rules Any house rules listed here supersede rulings made in any official supplements within this chat. The following rules apply to ALL characters. Custom Traits Generally, we're very open to updating 1e abilities, powers, and merits, and are fairly open to creation of entirely new ones. Any updated or custom traits will be listed here. Magic Item Creation and Acquiring When creating a magical item yourself, receiving it from another PC in-character, or receiving it IC as a plot reward that you had no say in the creation of, you don't need to pay Experience for the item except if listed for the respective systems involved in creating the object. You do need to follow all of the normal rules for it, and will generally need to talk to an ST before creating it, especially if the process involves gaining rare materials or making bargains with NPCs (such as spirits). Generally, magical object creation is taxing, and most characters won't want to be continuously creating such items. There's no hard rule for this, but if your character is constantly in the process of creating new items, you're probably overdoing it. If you want to gain a magical object that you have no way to make yourself, nor to gain from another PC that you're aware of, you may purchase it as a merit with a rating equal to the object's, with ST permission, usually requiring a scene or two spent seeking it out. Minor object creation, including Ritual Pottery, is covered by the crafting rules in Chronicles of Darkness. Charms against spiritual powers and similar are very common in this era. Templates Fully supernatural creatures (Vampires, Werewolves, etc) have only one template; their own. A character may have up to two minor templates by comparison, however; a Psychic Vampire might be Wolf-Blooded as well, for instance. However, if the second template normally doesn't require a merit or other purchase, it must be gained as a 3 dot merit (unless the first template already required a merit). Any minor templates are subsequently lost upon becoming fully supernatural, however. Similarly, any attempt to add on a new minor template to a character that already has two or that has a full template simply fails; a Wolf-Blooded Psychic Vampire can be blood bound, but not ghouled, for instance. Crossover House Rules The following rules apply to interactions between the systems of various types of Supernatural entities Supernatural Knowledge Supernatural knowledge that a character starts with is covered by concept and Occult rolls. Everyone knows about spirits, the gods, the Wise, and that monstrous creatures beyond them exist as well. In addition, everyone knows the basics of their own kind, and anything concept appropriate (or covered by having a specialty). In general, fully supernatural characters will also have a greater degree of knowledge than mortals; Blood-Wise are mostly all aware of the Uratha by name, for instance. For anything else, make an Intelligence + Occult roll with a penalty appropriate to the obscurity of the information; -0 for simply knowing something exists, -3 for knowing something somewhat obscure, like the five forms of the Uratha, and -5 for anything 'proprietary' to the splat in question, such as a list of Nightmares Beasts have access to. As usual, if there's any uncertainty, whether about concept-appropriateness or exact penalty, ask a Storyteller. Predatory Auras Vampires and Werewolves can sense each other as easily as they can sense their own kind, but can tell the difference between themselves and other predators. Both can similarly sense Beasts if said Beast is not currently using Passing Resemblance. In any instance where a Vampire could defend against an ability with an Aspect of their Beast (by lashing out), a Werewolf may use their Hunter's Aspect, and visa versa. Vampires may also specifically defend against the Hunter's Aspect by lashing out with their Beast instead of using the normal resistance pool, and if successful this doesn't count against the normal limit of applying a condition once per month. Clash of Wills Most entities use the Clash of Wills listed for their type. In the case of a given character type's rules not covering a specific situation, use Supernatural Tolerance + an Attribute appropriate to the ability used. This applies to mortals utilizing supernatural merits as well; they generally will only roll a related attribute. Vampire House Rules The following rules apply to any Vampire characters. Sanguine Craft Vampires may make use of Sanguine Craft, which provides a unique type of magical item creation for them. This follows the normal rules for magic items listed above. Blood Sorcery The supplement Blood Sorcery: Sacraments and Blasphemies is in use, with the updates for it provided in Vampire 2nd edition. Blood Sorcerers utilize Themes and rituals as listed in that supplement, but use the final roll results and extended action rules (including time per roll) from the 2nd edition core. However, spirits and the Border Marches are not beyond the reach of such blood magic in the neolithic era; in fact, many at the time believe the Pangean gods are who empower the rites to begin with. When casting learned rituals, the improvised dice pool for Cruac can be used if it's higher for the character. However, Blood Sorcerers never gain rituals for free when raising Themes, given the difficulty of codifying rituals without the resources available to more modern Vampires. Loci provide a bonus to Cruac rituals equal to their rating, given the large spiritual influence on that form of sorcery at the time. As mentioned in Vampire's character creation, Cruac is the only universally available form of blood magic; Theban Sorcery doesn't exist yet, nor do the Mysteries of the Dragon or Invictus Oaths. Bloodlines might be able to develop unique sorceries, however. Auspex If a mechanic says that you gain a bonus of some sort when Auspex is 'active, it applies in any scene where your character has utilized Beast's Hackles, Uncanny Perception, or Spirit's Touch. In addition, whenever successfully activating Beast's Hackles, you may roll a Clash of Wills against anyone using Obfuscate or other concealing powers nearby, without needing to ask a specific question. The Border Marches The sun within the Border Marches isn't the actual sun, but a reflection of Helios. While the Incarna has no love for Vampires, the presence of him does not inherently harm Kindred. They do, however, risk fear frenzy when seeing it if they aren't already aware of the difference (or don't know they're in the Border Marches). This applies within the Shadow as well in the Neolithic era. Werewolf House Rules The following rules apply to any Werewolf characters. Gift of Technology This gift uses the systems on page 165 of Dark Eras. Mage House Rules The following rules apply to any Mage characters. Withstanding To help balance the power of Mage magic in a crossover setting, the following house rules apply to the mechanics for Withstanding spell effects. * All hostile effects that directly target a character (whether through touch, aimed spells, or sensory casting) are Withstood. If no trait is given, use the one most appropriate to the situation; Resolve applies against direct control and manipulations of fate, Stamina against any direct physical effects, and Composure against emotional influences and attacks on the soul, for instance. * Supernatural creatures may Withstand an effect using their Supernatural Tolerance if it's higher than their normal Withstanding trait. * Supernatural characters and those mortals with Unseen Sense or other supernatural senses may spend Willpower to improve their resistance even if "unaware" of the effect. * Unmaking effects that would effectively kill a character with a single (remaining) point of Potency always treat the spell as being cast in front of a Sleeper, even if the target isn't one or the effect would be imperceptible.